Those results look like they are in the placebo effect range, not the “qualitative change in the way that pain is processed” range.
Is your understanding that it should be possible to completely or almost completely eliminate the pain-suffering connection? If so, do you believe that any humans have actually achieved that?
(ETA: If the answers are “no” I don’t think that’s particularly damning. Mostly the relevant thing is that by default I’m not going to adjust me models of cognition based on this kind of report, worst case is that I miss out by failing to incorporate some evidence.)
The case of the Vietnamese monk who famously set himself on fire may meet your criteria. The Vietnamese government claimed that he had drugged himself, but it’s hard to imagine a drug that would allow you to get out of a car under your own power and walk to a seated position, and then light a match to set yourself on fire but still have no reaction as your flesh burns off.
Is your understanding that it should be possible to completely or almost completely eliminate the pain-suffering connection? If so, do you believe that any humans have actually achieved that?
I don’t have enough information to answer with any higher confidence than “maybe” to the first question. (For the second, I don’t know what it would mean in practice for it to be a thing that’s possible, but which no human has achieved—if nobody has managed to achieve it yet, including any of the monks who have the option of spending basically all their waking hours meditating, then it seems to be impossible for all practical intents and purposes.)
Those results look like they are in the placebo effect range, not the “qualitative change in the way that pain is processed” range.
Is your understanding that it should be possible to completely or almost completely eliminate the pain-suffering connection? If so, do you believe that any humans have actually achieved that?
(ETA: If the answers are “no” I don’t think that’s particularly damning. Mostly the relevant thing is that by default I’m not going to adjust me models of cognition based on this kind of report, worst case is that I miss out by failing to incorporate some evidence.)
The case of the Vietnamese monk who famously set himself on fire may meet your criteria. The Vietnamese government claimed that he had drugged himself, but it’s hard to imagine a drug that would allow you to get out of a car under your own power and walk to a seated position, and then light a match to set yourself on fire but still have no reaction as your flesh burns off.
I don’t have enough information to answer with any higher confidence than “maybe” to the first question. (For the second, I don’t know what it would mean in practice for it to be a thing that’s possible, but which no human has achieved—if nobody has managed to achieve it yet, including any of the monks who have the option of spending basically all their waking hours meditating, then it seems to be impossible for all practical intents and purposes.)